Australia's Neglected Genre

Australian cinema has recently seen a spate of comedies and crime films, both of which contain similar quirky yet down-to-earth characters, and similar themes, such as a tendency to take a few swipes, often affectionate ones, at the Australian identity and Australian icons.

Back in the 1970s and early '80s, the US was churning out a certain genre of film that ran with analogous ideas and proved, for a short while, quite successful at critically and humorously looking at ordinary Americans and Americana. That genre was horror.

One of the more curious things about Australian cinema is that it has produced so little horror.

After all, the genre is primed towards low-budget filmmaking with minimal sets and isolated locations.